History

1. 1.

   Factual framework: the Estates-General met in 1789; representatives of the Third Estate declared a National Assembly on 17 June; they encountered a locked meeting chamber on 20 June; the Bastille was stormed on 14 July 1789. Fictional source for skills practice, not a real quotation: an invented Paris pamphleteer writes in July 1789, 'The empty purse brought the ministers to us; the locked chamber strengthened our existing claim to speak for the nation.' The fictional writer seeks support for the Assembly. Explain one connection between royal financial problems and the summoning of the Estates-General.

   [2 marks] · no calculator

   Answer explanation

   Draft walkthroughs are based on marking guidance, not independently verified derivations.

   1. A revenue problem required cooperation that the crown could not simply assume. The meeting created a forum in which disputes over authority and representation could expand beyond taxation.
   2. Award each point once. Accept other well-supported interpretations addressing the task.

   Marking points

   • The monarchy faced debt and difficulties obtaining revenue.
   • Seeking support for fiscal reform brought representative political demands into the crisis.

   Examiner tip: Link fiscal pressure to political opportunity rather than treating debt as an automatic revolution.

2. 2.

   Factual framework: the Estates-General met in 1789; representatives of the Third Estate declared a National Assembly on 17 June; they encountered a locked meeting chamber on 20 June; the Bastille was stormed on 14 July 1789. Fictional source for skills practice, not a real quotation: an invented Paris pamphleteer writes in July 1789, 'The empty purse brought the ministers to us; the locked chamber strengthened our existing claim to speak for the nation.' The fictional writer seeks support for the Assembly. What argument about causes does the fictional pamphlet make?

   [2 marks] · no calculator

   Answer explanation

   Draft walkthroughs are based on marking guidance, not independently verified derivations.

   1. The source links financial need to consultation and later exclusion to a stronger assertion of an existing authority claim. The Assembly was declared on 17 June, before the locked chamber on 20 June. This is an invented argument to analyse, not evidence of what an actual pamphlet said.
   2. Award each point once. Accept other well-supported interpretations addressing the task.

   Marking points

   • The 'empty purse' represents financial weakness initiating consultation.
   • The 'locked chamber' represents exclusion strengthening an existing claim to national authority.

   Examiner tip: Separate the source's argument from established factual chronology.

3. 3.

   Factual framework: the Estates-General met in 1789; representatives of the Third Estate declared a National Assembly on 17 June; they encountered a locked meeting chamber on 20 June; the Bastille was stormed on 14 July 1789. Fictional source for skills practice, not a real quotation: an invented Paris pamphleteer writes in July 1789, 'The empty purse brought the ministers to us; the locked chamber strengthened our existing claim to speak for the nation.' The fictional writer seeks support for the Assembly. Explain how the fictional writer's purpose affects the source's usefulness.

   [3 marks] · no calculator

   Answer explanation

   Draft walkthroughs are based on marking guidance, not independently verified derivations.

   1. Purpose affects selection of details, not just truthfulness. In this exercise the pamphlet turns necessity and exclusion into justification; a causal history would need independent evidence beyond its rhetoric.
   2. Award each point once. Accept other well-supported interpretations addressing the task.

   Marking points

   • Seeking support for the Assembly encourages a legitimising account of its emergence.
   • The source is useful for analysing that persuasive framing.
   • It may downplay other actors or causes, so cannot alone establish their relative importance.

   Examiner tip: A partisan viewpoint can be valuable evidence of persuasion without being a complete explanation.

4. 4.

   Factual framework: the Estates-General met in 1789; representatives of the Third Estate declared a National Assembly on 17 June; they encountered a locked meeting chamber on 20 June; the Bastille was stormed on 14 July 1789. Fictional source for skills practice, not a real quotation: an invented Paris pamphleteer writes in July 1789, 'The empty purse brought the ministers to us; the locked chamber strengthened our existing claim to speak for the nation.' The fictional writer seeks support for the Assembly. Explain how material hardship and political ideas could interact in 1789.

   [3 marks] · no calculator

   Answer explanation

   Draft walkthroughs are based on marking guidance, not independently verified derivations.

   1. Hardship can motivate action while political language shapes its demands. Their interaction helps explain why economic anger could become a challenge to legitimacy rather than only a request for cheaper food.
   2. Award each point once. Accept other well-supported interpretations addressing the task.

   Marking points

   • Food shortages or high bread prices could intensify popular grievances.
   • Ideas of representation and rights offered language for challenging authority.
   • Shows a mechanism linking grievances to mobilisation rather than treating ideas and hardship as isolated causes.

   Examiner tip: Explain interaction; a list of causes is not a causal chain.

5. 5.

   Factual framework: the Estates-General met in 1789; representatives of the Third Estate declared a National Assembly on 17 June; they encountered a locked meeting chamber on 20 June; the Bastille was stormed on 14 July 1789. Fictional source for skills practice, not a real quotation: an invented Paris pamphleteer writes in July 1789, 'The empty purse brought the ministers to us; the locked chamber strengthened our existing claim to speak for the nation.' The fictional writer seeks support for the Assembly. Assess the claim that royal debt alone explains the outbreak of revolution in 1789.

   [4 marks] · no calculator

   Answer explanation

   Draft walkthroughs are based on marking guidance, not independently verified derivations.

   1. Debt explains pressure on the crown and part of the timing. It does not by itself explain the Assembly's sovereignty claim or street mobilisation, so weigh institutional decisions and popular pressures alongside it.
   2. Award each point once. Accept other well-supported interpretations addressing the task.

   Marking points

   • Fiscal crisis contributed to summoning the Estates-General.
   • Disputes over representation transformed consultation into a political conflict.
   • Popular mobilisation and material grievances broadened the crisis.
   • Judges debt as a enabling or precipitating cause rather than a sufficient explanation, with supported alternatives accepted.

   Examiner tip: Distinguish why a crisis began from why it developed into revolution.

6. 6.

   Factual framework: the Estates-General met in 1789; representatives of the Third Estate declared a National Assembly on 17 June; they encountered a locked meeting chamber on 20 June; the Bastille was stormed on 14 July 1789. Fictional source for skills practice, not a real quotation: an invented Paris pamphleteer writes in July 1789, 'The empty purse brought the ministers to us; the locked chamber strengthened our existing claim to speak for the nation.' The fictional writer seeks support for the Assembly. Assess how far 1789 changed the basis of political legitimacy in France. Limit your answer to that year.

   [4 marks] · no calculator

   Answer explanation

   Draft walkthroughs are based on marking guidance, not independently verified derivations.

   1. New claims about the nation and rights challenged inherited authority, but revolutionary principles did not instantly abolish every older institution. A degree judgement recognises major ideological change and continuing monarchy.
   2. Award each point once. Accept other well-supported interpretations addressing the task.

   Marking points

   • The National Assembly asserted representation of the nation rather than separate estates.
   • The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen articulated rights and national sovereignty.
   • The monarchy still existed in 1789, limiting claims of complete immediate replacement.
   • Reaches a supported judgement distinguishing principles from institutional completion.

   Examiner tip: Do not move the abolition of the monarchy in 1792 into 1789.

Original, unofficial practice questions from SubjectScout — not official past-paper questions.